Crimean War Timeline

185330 November - Turkish fleet destroyed at the Battle of Sinope by the Russians1854May - British army landed at Varna 28 June - British forces receive orders to invade the Crimea5 September - Allies leave Varna for Crimea20 September - Battle of Alma24 September - Seige of Sebastopol begins17 October - 1st bombardment of Sebastopol24 + 25 October - Battle of Balaclava5 November - Battle of Inkerman

1855January-March - Horrific Russian winter8 March - Fenton arrives at Balaclava9 September - Sebastopol is evacuated by the Russians185629 February - Armistice in the Crimea30 March - The Treaty of Paris is signed

Unit 1

What caused the Crimean War?

Power, Fear and Controlwere the main causes of the Crimean War.The Russian Empire had majorly grown in Europe and its army was advancing through central Asia, presenting a double threat to Britain:

British Politicains beleived that Brit interests in India were becoming threatened by the Russians advance.

They also believed that the prospect of Russian control of the Black Sea would threaten Britains short land route to India

The Russian Tsar wanted to carve up the Turkish Empire as quickly as he could because he believe that the Tukish Empire was weak, and so wanted Russia to gain all or atleast part of it. This was because Turkey controlled the exit from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean and Russia wanted ice-free ports for its fleet, which is exactly what Turkey could provide for them. HOWEVER Britain desperately wanted to stop this from happening because it needed the area around the Black Sea to remain in friendly hands as it was their best route to India.A dispute occured when Russia said that it needed to protect the Greek Orthodox Christians in Turkey, which was mainly Muslim.At the same time France and Russia engaged in a dispute because of a disagreement over who held the keys to the Church Of The Holy Sepulchre which was in the Turkish Empire.

The French supported the Catholics

The Russians supported the Orthodox Monks

The Turkish Sultan in 1852 decided to favour the Catholic Monks

This resulted in the Crimean War with Russia on one side and Turkey, Britain and France on the other.

Reporting the War

Roger Fenton

A Self-Portrait of Roger Fenton

1819-1869

Born in Lancashire

He studied in London and Paris where he developed a fascination with photography

Founded Royal Photographic Society in 1853

Thomas Agnew & Sons of Mancester wanted to produce an albumn of photos from the Crimean War that would be suitable for sale, and Fenton jumped at the oppourtunity to do this

He was told not to take photos of the horrors of war

He arrived at Balaclava in March 1855 and stayed until June

He took nearly 400 useable photos whilst he was there, most of which were exhibited in London in October 1855 before being taken on tour throughout Britain.

The Battle of Alma - 22 September 1854

The Battle of Alma stems from the Russian commander Menshikov deciding not to attack the British and French during their first day marching south on September 19th. The course of events he chose to instigate instead are as follows:

He and his troops took up positions 3 miles south of the Alma River

The French and British commanders halted their troops close to the water ready for the inevitable battle the next day

Here cholera began to take its toll on the troops

The French commander rode over to discuss strategy and tactics with Lord Raglan, who assured him that the British would cooperate

Raglan did not tell the divisional commanders of the French plans, instead he had plans of his own

Also, there had been no proper reconnaissance (a search made for military information in the field, such as examining the groud)

Raglan had no idea of the strength of the Russian opposing forces, and one part of the battle had escaped him - if the Allies were defeated in the first encounter then the war would be over BUT if the Allies won the way would be open for an advance of Sebastopol, the whole object of the campaign

The Russians were so confident they would win that spectators came to watch

The French began the attack following their commanders battle plan but were soon pinned down

The British went for full frontal assault and they won

The Russians were forced to flee with 1,755 men dead and 6,000 injured

The way to Sebastopol was opened

The Battle Of Balaclava - 25 October 1854

The Russians were desperate to break the Allies seige of Sebastopol and began to advance with 25,000 men on the British supply base at the port of Balaclava.

The Thin Red Line

The Thin Red Line, painted by Robert Gibb in 1881

On the morning of the charge of the Light Brigade the Russian cavalry advance on Balaclava was halted by the 93rd Highland regiment. Their commander Sir Colin Campbell decided against using the traditional square formation for the charge, instead opting for his troops to form a long line, two men deep.William Russell who was watching from the hills above commented 'only a thin red streak tipped with a line of steel' stood between the Russian cavalry and the defenceless British base of Balaclava.As Russell watched, the 93rd stopped the Russian advance, leaving them to be routed by Lucan's Heavy Brigade.

The Charge of the Light Brigade

The charge of the Light Brigade, from the Russian perspective, by William Simpson in 1855

During the Battle of Balaclava Lord Raglan ordered Lord Lucan, his cavalry commander, to stop the Russians from removing a captured cannon from the Causeway Heights that overlooked two valleys close to Balaclava.Confusion between the commanders, centering on the gestures of the bearer of the written order, Captain Nolan, and the verbal explanation he gave, lead Lord Lucan to send the Light Brigade up the wrong valley and against the wrong guns.What happened has become a by-word for military failure.

118 men were killed, 127 wounded and 60 taken prisoner

The Impact of the Russian Winter - January 1855

The British troops did not just have to worry about their Russian enemies, they also had the weather to contend with, which was at its worst in January 1885, at the same time as it became clear that the British Army was no longer effective or functioning properly as a military force.The Army was facing a multitude if problems such as:

Lack of food

Lack of suitable clothing for the horrendous Russian winter

Unsuitable accomodation for the time of year and weather conditions

Terrible weather conditions such as snow, wind, icy-cold temperatures

Loss of men due to poor conditions etc.

The Impact of Reportage

William Russell

Russell's frank revolations about the military mismanagement and administrative incompetance in the Crimean War shocked middle-class Victorian England.His graphic descriptions of the horrors of the war were very different to the image of the war that had previously been presented to the public, in which the war was presented as heroic and brave. This reporting from Russell undermined the government's presentation of the war and ruined the reputation of Lord Raglan, among others.

Roger Fenton

Fenton had two main problems to contend with during his time in the Crimea:

Although he was there to report on the war he was banned from photographing horrific images such as dead bodies

Photographic technology was not advanced enough to allow him to take pictures in which the sublects were moving

He became bored of simply photographing officers and ships, so asked a friend to take him to photograph a 'good view'. His friend took him to a narrow ravine between the British camps and the Russian fortifications. He was amazed at what he saw, a place that the soldiers described as 'The Valley of the Shadow of Death'. To these soldiers it was a well known place, and Fenton was able to make it known to all their families back home in Britain.

Unit 2

How well supplied were the troops?

As we already know from the Unit 1 section, troops in the Crimea were not very well supplied. however, there is some controversy over who was to blame. Was it the weather or was it human error?

Human Error

Lord Raglan - He didn't think that the the Army would fail to take Sebastopol before the winter and so didn't inform Filder, the head of the commissariat, that the Army would be wintering in the Crimea until 8th November, meaning that Filder was left with no time to make adequate preperations for the troops

Lord Cardigan was spending days at a time on his yacht, and so often had no idea how bad the situation was, and would also not allow the Light Brigade to move the camp to Balaclava where the horses could be fed

Port authorities at Balaclava, namely Captain Christie, refused to allow ships in during the storm

Weather

The road from the harbour to the camp was impassable because of heavy rain

A lot of horses died because they had no shelter - meaning that there was no way of transporting food up to the camp

Crimea hit by tremendous storm

The Reaction in Britain

William Russell brought the horrors of the Crimean War to the attention of everyone back in Britian.In direct response to to the Crimean dispatches printed in The Times,Sir Robert Peel, the son of the former Prime Minister, sent the paper £200 for supplying 'comforts' to the sick and wounded - this formed the basis for the 'Crimea Fund', which quickly managed to raise over £7,000 for the cause.This is just one example of the reaction and generosity of people back home, there are many many more.

Medical Services in the Crimea

Organisation of the Medical Services

In February 1853 the Army Medical Department and the Ordnance Medical Department were combined together to make one department, under Dr. Andrew Smith. This new department only had six members of staff.Why was this not done earlier?It was impossible to amalgamate these two departments any earlier then they were because of the Duke of Wellington, who was opposed to any reform of the Army's medical services.Dr. Andrew Smith's new departmentSmith and his team had to create a war-ready medical department from scratch. To begin with he had no wagons, no base hospitals, no doctors and no-one to carry the stretchers.

Where were hospitals established?

The major base hospital was established at Scutari. The old Ottoman barracks were converted into the Barrack hospital by the British, and could accomodate about 6,000 men at one time.In the Crimea itself there were 4 hospitals set up for the sick and wouded:1) The General Hospital - opened in September 1854 2) The Castle Hospital - opened in April 1855 - 2,500 beds3) The Land Transport Corps hospital - Karani4) A convalescent hospital was established at the St. George Monastery

Medical Treatments

~ The treatments that were used in the Crimea were very similar to those that were used in hospitals back in Britain.

~ The main form of treatment was the amputation of limbs - carrying a 25% death rate, usually from either shock or infection.~ Anaesthesia was used in the Crimea, however this was only Chloroform and its impact was very limited. There was also a belief among many of the medical staff that the use of anaesthetics during operations weakened the patient, meaning they were not used as often as they could have been ~ Sufficient supplies did not get to the hospitals very often.

Problems with Water and Sanitation

+ Lack of washing facilities lead to lice, typhus and typhoid+ Lack of sanitation lead to dysentry and cholera+ 16,297 men died from their wounds or disease, out of the 18,058 men who died in the Crimea

Florence Nightengale posted to the Crimea

Florence Nightengale

Florence Nightengale was asked to head the nurses at the Scutari Barrack Hospital, with no other candidates asked to apply for the position.She went to the Crimea with a team of 38 nurses, who were hand selected for the job by a committee.Her brief was clear - she was only in charge of the nurses and was herself under the authority of Dr. Menzies, the medical officer.

Mary Sealcole - The real Angel of Mercy???

A warercolour painting of Mary Seacole

At the time of the Crimean war people believed that Mary Seacole was the real angel of mercy.